I was a former senior manager at KPMG and since 1994 the owner of the Marks Group PC, a 10 person customer relationship management consulting firm based outside Philadelphia. I've written six small-business management books, most recently "The Manufacturer's Book of List" and “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Simple Lessons From Smart Business People.” Besides Forbes, I daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post monthly for Philadelphia Magazine. I am an unpaid contributor to Forbes. I make no compensation from the number of people who read what I write here. Follow me on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

12/12/2011 @ 7:25AM780,146 views

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

President Obama gave an excellent speech last week in Kansas about inequality in America.

“This is the defining issue of our time.” He said. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.”

He’s right. The spread between rich and poor has gotten wider over the decades. And the opportunities for the 99% have become harder to realize.

The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia. The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.

I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.

It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study. I’d become expert at Google Scholar. I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes and CliffsNotes to help me understand books. I’d watch relevant teachings on Academic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy. (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.) I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Is this easy? No it’s not. It’s hard. It takes a special kind of kid to succeed. And to succeed even with these tools is much harder for a black kid from West Philadelphia than a white kid from the suburbs. But it’s not impossible. The tools are there. The technology is there. And the opportunities there.

In Philadelphia, there are nationally recognized magnet schools like Central, Girls High and Masterman. These schools are free. But they are hard to get in to. You need good grades and good test scores. And there are also other good magnet and charter schools in the city. You also need good grades to get into those. In a school system that is so broken these are bright spots. Getting into one of these schools opens up a world of opportunities. More than 90% of the kids that go to Central go on to college. I would use the internet to research each one of these schools so I could find out how I could be admitted. I would find out the names of the admissions people and go to meet with them. If I was a poor black kid I would make it my goal to get into one of these schools.

Or even a private school. Most private schools I know are filled to the brim with the 1%. That’s because these schools are exclusive and expensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $50k per year. But there’s a secret about them. Most have scholarship programs. Most have boards of trustees that want to give opportunities to kids that can’t afford the tuition. Many would provide funding for not only tuition but also for transportation or even boarding. Trust me, they want to show diversity. They want to show smiling, smart kids of many different colors and races on their fundraising brochures. If I was a poor black kid I’d be using technology to research these schools on the internet, too, and making them know that I exist and that I get good grades and want to go to their school.

And once admitted to one of these schools the first person I’d introduce myself to would be the school’s guidance counselor. This is the person who will one day help me go to a college. This is the person who knows everything there is to know about financial aid, grants, minority programs and the like. This is the person who may also know of job programs and co-op learning opportunities that I could participate in. This is the person who could help me get summer employment at a law firm or a business owned by the 1% where I could meet people and show off my stuff.

If I was a poor black kid I would get technical. I would learn software. I would learn how to write code. I would seek out courses in my high school that teaches these skills or figure out where to learn more online. I would study on my own. I would make sure my writing and communication skills stay polished.

Because a poor black kid who gets good grades, has a part time job and becomes proficient with a technical skill will go to college. There is financial aid available. There are programs available. And no matter what he or she majors in that person will have opportunities. They will find jobs in a country of business owners like me who are starved for smart, skilled people. They will succeed.

President Obama was right in his speech last week. The division between rich and poor is a national problem. But the biggest challenge we face isn’t inequality. It’s ignorance. So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.

Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.

Editor’s note — This post has generated an enormous amount of feedback here on Forbes and across the web. Here are a few of those responses:

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This is the stupidest article ever! It should be titled, “If I were a poor black kid with a well-to-do white man’s knowledge!” Is this a joke? I couldn’t stomach to read to the end, does the writer say GOTCHA! at the end?

Mr. marks, I can appreciate your article. As an in transition poor black kid, I see where you’re coming from. I say in transition because I’m a senior at Georgetown and will soon be unable to classify myself using that title. My mother made less than 26,000 dollars a year in Southern California and had to support two children and the occasion fourth child also known as my father. I, like the person you describe in your article, went to a charter school, talked to my counselor, worked a part time job, and stayed at my school for ungodly hours to get to where I am today. I understand and agree with your line of thinking that this is what it takes to- well no longer be a ‘poor black kid’. My essential problem (besides your choice of words) is your final paragraph “Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.” This is a horrible way to sum up an already presumptuous and quite over simplified article. Implying that some black kids are not ‘smart enough’ to go after opportunity is a problem, but pretend for a moment that all poor black kids were indeed smart enough. Would there then be enough resources to support them all? Would they all be able to succeed? Of course not. I recognize that I am an enormous exception to the rule and that I was afforded an amazing opportunity that many of my peers, neighbors, and even my own brother did not have. I don’t think this is because they were not smart enough, in fact I know it is not. It is completely useless to point out that there ARE people like me, that SOME people can rise above. The problem is that everyone (assuming their only issue was access to opportunity which it certainly is not) would not be supported by the system in which we operate everyone cannot attend a charter school, everyone cannot get a scholarship to a private school, everyone doesn’t have a qualified guidance counselor, everyone can’t even get a part time job. It doesn’t matter that there are loopholes like the ones you point out because those loopholes cannot support everyone, these “opportunities” can not be taken advantage of by everyone and THAT is a problem worth talking about and in need of fixing. America has a real problem with imagining everyone can ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’ that concept is such a farce and more or less useless example. Excuse me for ranting, but if you were a poor black kid, you might be smart enough to understand that.

In the abstract opportunity does exist for all but my bigger question for you is did you write this for all the “poor black kids” who read Forbes or for the middle and upper middle class who actually read Forbes? Your sentiment isn’t wrong but I encourage you to go listen to as many poor black kids (and poor kids of all colors) and ask them if they think they have opportunity or not. The important word here is listen to them. If you do that I will believe that you actually care about kids in that situation. If not, I just sounds like you are trying to rationalize inequality to make your and your reader feel better about themselves. So if you do care about then and you aren’t trying to assuage your guilt then go listen to some poor black kids in West Philly please.

Mr. Marks, you are very confident in the content of your open letter, but I’d be interested to know what research you have done to arrive at the conclusion that there are educational and technological resources available for every poor child. Have you visited libraries nearest poor areas across the country to verify the technological resources you claim they provide? Have you done participant observation in inner city schools or assessed availability of resources (textbooks, computers) within the schools?

As someone who group up in a suburban area and has lived in inner city neighborhoods across the country throughout my adult life, I can confidently tell you are wrong in your assumptions about inner city resources. The cozy library in your neighborhood is not like the libraries in poor neighborhoods with their small, dated collections, limited (often standing station only) computers with long lines and brief time limits, and an often unenthusiastic staff that does not encourage the children. Let’s not even get into the difference in resources between the urban and the rural poor– you seem to make the assumption that all these poor black children are in big city settings, a short subway ride away from everything, when a great deal of poor children live in rural locales or mid-sized cities in very isolated settings without access to anywhere without the help of an available and willing adult with a vehicle. I would suggest doing research on the communities in which you speak before formulating opinions. In general, it is always a good rule to do research, rather than make assumptions.

The worst sin of any you have committed here, though, is your ease with saying that a poor black kid needs to be “special” and *work much harder * than an average kid to make it, while an average white middle class child, for example, can sit on the laurels of his or her parents and easily absorb the cultural capital of his or her environment and ‘make it’– not be “special”, not “work hard”. Is that okay to you? Are you comfortable with the way in which society works? You would be better serving the ‘poor black kids’ you claim to be helping by writing a letter to your peers, the rich white kids, to be aware of the privileges they have, and change the policies that create barriers for their counterparts, for the future of their country. If middle class people knew about the actual conditions of impoverished communities (ie., lack of businesses – work, lack of fresh food venders, lack of transportation, lack of city services, environmental toxins/proximity to factories) they would realize their opinions stem from an ignorance of their own privilege. Acknowledging white and middle class privileges is the first step.

You are a sadly delusional man who walks in the world of white privilege. Come walk in the reality of a black kid in their reality and you’ll see what it’s really like…wait you don’t have to, instead you’ll hide behind your pen, paper and pontificate at Forbes…safe pedestal for cowards.

The really amazing thing to me is that you didn’t even follow your own “recipe” in writing in article on a subject that you admitted was beyond your grasp.

You didn’t “study hard” or “use technology” or “find friendly people who know more”. If you had, you would’ve been able to get in touch with people from community/social organizations or urban schools that would’ve been able to set you straight. Or be put in contact with actual poor kids from poor neighborhoods, and spend half as much time you think they need to spend on your recipe, on yourself learning from them, in the role of a student, how their world works. If you’d followed your own recipe, you might have decided that it was best to write a different column. In fact, people here have tried to educate you on this and you’ve just dug in.

Which leads into another important thing that anyone who comes up hardscrabble and becomes successful learns, which you don’t mention in your article: the ability to lower one’s instinctive shields of self-defense when criticized, and to accept that other people with experience have a point sometimes and that one can be wrong and learn from it. Here, you’re doing the opposite. So no, I don’t think you’d do that great in the shoes of one of your imagined “poor black kids.”

Mr. Marks, the problem is that you have the privilege to stick with what you wrote without having to acknowledge the harm that you have caused by writing it. If you choose not to, you never have to acknowledge the fact that “middle-class” white people like you and I can take this articles as evidence that all that “poor black kids” need to get ahead is their own will to do so and therefore, we need not think about our own actions, the culture of anti-intellectualism in the US, or the systemic prejudice in place keeping these kids back. We can continue to live comfortably believing that we are absolved of any responsibility. It is unfortunate that you are not able to learn from Ryan’s experience because his taking the time to attempt to educate you is yet another privilege that you hold and choose to squander. Though you will not accept it, I must say, “shame on you.”

Really well said. Any person who hasn’t the experience to back up what they are saying, nor the research and citations should write an article on what they know about. The sympathy in the article is obviously well meaning, but so wrongly misinformed. I wouldn’t expect a suburb-living middle class computer programmer to have any acquired knowledge on the topic. Doesn’t make him a bad person, but someone in the middle class should be learned enough not to talk about the world as though it were some utopic place where all problems are resolved easily and immediately.

First, let me applaud you for acknowledging that you have benefited from being a White Man (as opposed to doing like most of your kind and complain about how you are being reversely discriminated against, as if such a thing exists….)

Insightful commentary. Insightful in the sense that it is always good to know exactly how others view my kind– I am, as many who have commented, one of the poor Black kids that you wag your finger down to…

Your commentary is fatally flawed in that its basis consists of nothing but unwarranted, unqualfied assumptions:

1. you say Black kids can get help from their guidance counselor— in doing so, you falsely assume that all guidance counselors are (1) racially non-discriminatory and (2) adequate enough to advocate for poor Black students. Prime example me. My guidance counselor, a proud Rebel-flag toting man, told me to apply to a trade school and refused to help me apply for a national scholarship that required his signature.

2. You say that Black kids should use technology to get good grades— another fatally flawed assumption that (1) Black kids have access to technology in their classroom or homes or (2) Black kids have the means of transportation to access this technology that you speak of.

3. You then say apply that they should apply to the best schools that they can– assuming, (1) these students know how to properly apply, even further assuming that they have received proper instruction from school officials and parents on how to apply. Take the case of Haitian high school students I worked with, who were unable to attend college because their parents, wary of the government, refused to complete their child’s FAFSA papers.

I studied hard and worked hard. I eventually went to Harvard and now am a law student. I grew up in a single parent home. Fortunately, my MOTHER also was educated.

Which brings me to my last point– parental involvement is the primary indicator of any child’s success. I was fortunate to have a mother to teach me about college, who had the time to work with my school teachers to ensure that I was being properly served. Some of my friends unfortunately did not have that chance– their parents worked many jobs to support them, and were unable to tend to their educational needs. Or their parents themselves lacked and adequate education, and could not help their children out.

In short, you are right, there are resources out there. But it is dangerous to assume that these resources are readily available to anyone. A look inside in inner city school vs. a suburban school will reveal to you the widening disparities between the 2 entities in terms of accessibility to college preparation.

I am only offended because in the process of your patronizing rant, you assume that Black students are unmotivated and lazy. But Gene, until you have walked a mile in my shoes—-well, suffice to say, you should have stopped at acknowledged your privileged status as White Male.